>> good evening from los angeles. tonight a conversation with the incomparable quincy jones. a true renaissance man, q has 27 grammy wins, 79 grammy nominations, 7 academy award nominations, and harvard university's mentor of the year. his latest project is a documentary called keep on keeping on that pays tribute to his mentor, trumpet legend. he struggled with failing health while still teaching another generation. join us for conversations with quincy jones coming up right now.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> music conductor, film director, humanitarian, composer, quincy jones has no equal in this business. he has no equal in this business. his latest project is a documentary called keep on keeping on which pays tribute to

clark terry, now 93 and struggling with poor health. playing straight no chaser and then today from the documentary keep on keeping on as he mentors a young blind musician struggling to overcome stage fright. ♪ >> yes. yes! ♪ >> that is beautiful. ♪ yes. yeah, that's beautiful. >> you met clark terry at the ripe old age of what? >> 13.

>> how did you meet him? >> he basically was at the theater in seattle and basically, i learned later when i worked with sinatra and i learned that he was the worst gambler that ever lived. he had four horns. he didn't want to go the east so he worked vancouver and portland and seattle to stay away from the east coast. they just wanted to get it back together. those were great days, man. and they were the greatest professors we could dream of. he always used to say young blood, step into my office. let me pour you a cold one. that is when he was going to give you a life lesson. >> you were a trumpet player obviously. but what was it about clark terry's sound that made you want to understudy him?

>> he had expression that you can feel strongly in this film. he had expression. each phrase he played was just totally jazz. but all the jazz bands did that, you know? and the beep bop groups, too. a vocal similarity of what a rift should be. all of that stuff. it's a science. >> yeah. he has told this story countless times. he tells it in the film. he has written it in books, he has told it in interviews, but he remembers full well when he first met you and how you came to him and made him, begged him to give you lessons. >> he just called me skinny. i turned around and lookedv-ñ a clarinet. >> but late at night he actually gave you private lessons. >> he did.

i came all the way to school. i was up all night with ray charles. ray and i spent our whole life together. i had to see him before i went to school and he was just going to bed. we worked it out. thank god he said yes, man. it changed my life. >> yeah. i saw this documentary, and i had heard about it obviously, but i was so moved and just so full -- >> so glad. it is about humanity more than music. >> that's exactly right. it hit me in the heart because it's about humanity. it's about mentorship. >> yep. >> it's about -- >> giving back. >> love of young people. how did you come to be -- you know clark terry. he loves you. you're like a son to him. how did you come to be involved in the film project? >> well, they kept coming to me.

the director, dp, director of photography, they are from australia. >> uh-huh. >> australia. ghetto, real ghetto. oh my god. very talented guys. he was a drummer. he played with clark. he didn't know anything about films. that's what touches me so much about them. so many quince dental situations there. the whole film was about -- i love that phrase when they say coincidence is god's way of remaining anonymous. i worked with the most amazing group of young people on this planet from 12 years old and up. classical gypsy guitar player, all over the world, africa. we traveled. korea, poland, sweden,

everywhere, all over the world. he finally became one of those. it is just the most incredible fe feeling to have the blessing of being able to give back to these kids because they gave so much to me. they pat me on the back when i was young. ray charles, clark terry and everybody. >> this kid who is part of your global all stars is a kid featured in the film. >> yes. >> his name is justin. >> he is half japanese, half jewish. >> and blind. >> clark was blind, too. he was going blind when we met. that is another coincidence. >> what do you make of the ray -- and it's just such a loving relationship that the two of them have. this old guy, clark terry and this young guy, justin. >> i felt the same relationship with him when i was 13. that's his ability to make you feel like you're the only person

on the planet, a musician who tells you to try to be better than everybody. he is amazing. i had him in my band. do you know what it was like to have duke, my idol. >> i was about to go there. >> from 13. i'm twenty what? 26? they left the band. i couldn't believe it. >> how do you process? i hear you say you can't believe it. how do you process being 26 years of age and your hero, your hero and your teacher leaves dukelington to come be a part of your wand? >> it blew my mind. we were starving to death. i was 26 and i had 33 people. sally parker's son was with us. dogs, wives, mothers, everything. they said big band is over. i said no, we going to make it,

man. we wouldn't stop. we were stranded in europe for ten months. everywhere. yugoslavia. we played everywhere. we played in spain. i woild go to paris and do a film with andy williams. >> what was driving you at that point? >> passion. just wanted -- all of my life, you know? since i was 13 years old. came to seattle. >> yeah. the whole landscape was about four trumpets, four trombones, five sax phones, channel and guitar. that was like the orchestra.

later, a couple years later after that you guys shack up with music first and you court it and marry it later. she was there. she was -- she was the mentor. >> yeah. i said i want to go all the way. everything about my craft now. she said god, until god gives us 13 notes -- we only have 12 notes. >> just 12. >> in 700 years, beethoven, bo didly. same notes. it's amazing to make those notes yours. you have got to really know what you're doing to pull it together and feel like it represents you. >> speaking of those same 12

notes, when you were really just a kid and met clark terry, you gave him a song that you had written as a kid that he took back to the band. >> yeah. they kind of adopted me back then. they always used to tell me young blood step into my office, let me pour you a cold one. the hip hop slang is all from jazz and all. home boy was used 90 years ago. and cribs. i remember when i first went to new york. we knew all the stuff. he said hey, can i stash my ax in your crib for a few ticks while i catch a few zs? >> it's a language. >> it's like a prison language. and in italian job, i used it in a lot of songs. it is, it represents the same thing. michael said to me, he was born

the same year, month, day, and hour. >> you and michael cain? >> yes. great cat. he taught me how. he said you don't say the rhyming words. that's the trick. s because you love clark terry so much. i am so delighted that you got this film done while he's still here and he can experience it. how do you process watching your mentor, your hero. >> it's crazy now. he goes blind simultaneously with justin. he had his legs amputated because of diabetes. >> how did you handle that? >> i didn't. it was very hard. very hard. i have been having some doubts

myself, you know? so we always have to be careful, you know. you know, i have learned from my doctors in sweden that our dna is programmed to destruct the day we're born. you know that? the day we're born. that's god's plan. >> when you come in you have got to go out. >> make room for the young ones. >> i remember talking to you around the time that your friend ray charles, i remember talking on the phone one day, maybe at your house when ray had just passed away. and you had gotten to the point already by the time ray passed that you did not like going to funerals. your heart couldn't take it. >> you don't want to see the final results. i don't want to see it. i want to remember him how he was. we had a lot of fun together. he said live every day like it's your last.

one day you'll be right. and he also said i feel sorry for people who don't drink because when they get up that's as good as they will feel all day. i couldn't help but get corrupted. >> what do you think -- you're the expert here -- to your mind what is clark terry's great contribution to jazz? >> personality, man. and dexterity. he knew the two had to work to get the technique to really play what you felt. because we are some strange animals in music. i got a scholarship of epilepsy. schillanger was a famous mathematician. it sounds mechanical. we can't get away from it.

it's twos and threes. it's totally related. it's emotion and intellect. the intellect you have to train and study the science and the craft. you have to. everybody. it's like a doctor give you a brain operation doesn't know how to give you a penicillin shot. that's ridiculous. you have to know all of your foundations from retro grade, harmony and all of this stuff. it's science. and you have to give the gift back to god, the gift he gave you by studying your craft. they say the dictionary is the only place you find success before work and that's alphabetical. you have got to put the work in, man. >> watching this film, i wondered how clark terry must have felt and how he processed getting to a point in his life where he could no longer play his instrument. we see him still playing around with it and he's teaching.

but i wonder -- i was watching. >> it's got to destroy him. it's just like part of him. >> yeah. >> he used to say quincy, music can no longer be yours than a human being. i would like to see your life in music. >> that would be nice. >> you would have a symphony. >> i don't know what the lyric content would be. we have been friends a long time but we ain't going to talk about that. >> i watched that film and i was wondering one, as i said a moment ago, how clark processed not being able to play his instrument.

>> i came up to do an album we had discussed before. he couldn't get away that day. he said he sprained his leg or something like that. we just carried on with regular stuff. >> most likely it didn't work out. you spent some time with clark. >> i saw the two of you in that wound together and i saw the love. then i had a second thought which was how did quincy, how did q process when he had to stop playing the trumpet. how did you get past that? >> i could identify with that. i had two aneurysms. i had two brain operations. there is a clip, he puts a metal clip back there to tie it together because an aneurysm is a weakness in the main artery to

the brain. boy it easter if' easte' easte'. i was told the good news is you lived through this. the bad news is we have got to go back in again. this is your memory. and this is your automotive parts and everything. it's scary. and i came out of that one and i was paralyzed, the whole left part of me. and i looked down when i came out and i said what the hell is that. they said that's your hair. if you don't make it they put it back on you so you can look cute. i don't care what i look like when i'm gone. that's so scarry. that let's you know what living is about. it really does. it cleared my head really quick about a lot of things. don't ever be full of it ever. >> that's not who you are

anyway. >> tell it like it is. >> i know the aneurysms scared you but how did you process having to put down your horn? >> i didn't have any choice. i believe we played the hollywood -- what's that? the greek? >> yeah. >> i had slide trumpets. they left it and said we never want you to forget this pain. i do to this day. you know? and i never want to forget it, you know? it's scary. scary man. >> do you think, of all the questions i have asked you and i think i have asked you about everything. i don't know if i have ever asked you this question. do you think that all of the stuff, i introduced you as the ultimate renaissance man. you are. i'm not just saying this because you're my friend. if you were to ask me, somebody asked me this question the other dayment who do you think in black america is the ultimate renaissance woman. i say maya angelo.

>> i would agree with you. >> i remember casting on the street in new york when she was 30 years old. >> you see this. >> we had a great relationship. she is so funny. and i said i need you baby. she said what? i said i need you to write lyrics to two songs. and she wrote the bb jones and you put it on me. >> uh-huh. >> you know? >> what i didn't know is that her and bb were dating. i said i want to tell you blues singers don't get the blues, they give the blues. and he kicked her butt. and she didn't tell me until later on. one time i called up to her house her secretary said i'm sorry, mr. jones but miss angelo is having her lurnch. we always called it lurnch, too.

she is one of the greatest ladies i have ever known in my life. >> i pick maya as the greatest renaissance woman ever. for black men? paul and quincy jones. i can't imagine there is anybody who has done more than roekson has done, more than you have done. >> i'm just starting. >> you are. i always have to ask whether or not you think that all the stuff that you have done in so many genres you would have done had you still been able to play your trumpet? >> yes. >> you still would have done all of that? >> absolutely. something funny happened when i didn't have a mother. >> right. >> that's against the edifice concept. i watched in chicago, i watched 12 languages, went to boston university and had dementia.

they took her away in a straight jacket with my younger brother crying. and they took her away and we never had a mother. and the second one that daddy came home with was like precious. she never called me by my name until i was 57. that puts a dent on you. i said i have got to figure out how to do this on my own. if i don't have a mother, i will let music be my mother and music never let me down. that's why i worked so hard at it. everything there is to do. compose, everything. everything. >> yeah. what do you know that we don't know about clark's back story? the way he was raised, the way he grew up? >> same thing as me. he lost his mother at 7. she died. they took my mother away. we used to go out to the state hospital, the mental home she was in but it was like no

connection whatsoever. that affects you, you know? it affects your marriages and everything, you know? i don't know. i have been trying to get a different kind of perspective because it's very important for daughters. i have got six incredible daughters, 21 to 61 and one son, 45. they are the most precious thing in my life, my girls and my son. i just love my grandkids. and it's very powerful. if you haven't experienced it, you still don't really know how to raise kids, you know? i had to figure that out, how to raise my kids. the tough love you have to give to them, mainly when you're telling them i don't ever want you to be full of it. i want you to always be real. and know who you are. really know who you are. 70, 30, keep moving.

the statutes is expired. get over it and move on. and they did. there is not a false bone in her body. i said you're not going to this business until you go to school and she graduated at harvard at 21. >> she is taking off. >> like a hornet. >> speaking of moving on, i got a minute to go. let me circle back to keep on keeping on. let me ask you what you hope the viewer most gets out of watching this film? what do you want the viewer to most get when they see the film. >> it's about humanity more than it is about music. knowing who you are. >> yeah. i love it. i love quincy jones and there ain't nothing i can do about that. i love him. i'm always happy to have him on the program. but this project is a love letter to clark terry. it's about humanity more than it is about music. i can assure you, if you see

this movie and you don't feel something, then you're dead. something wrong with you. >> i agree. >> check your pulse. >> everybody cries when they see it. >> me included. >> yes. >> keep on keeping on is the project. quincy, i love you, man. >> love you, too. god bless you. >> that's our show for tonight and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >> hi. join me next time as we begin a week long tribute to some of the world's greatest dancers. that's next time. we'll see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

next on kqed newsroom, nfl football players accused of domestic violence and a possible coverup. a tale of two cities. voters in san jose and oakland will decide on their next mayors. we have one more thing. >> apple gets into the watch business. is it a smart move? plus, an exhibit of seldom seen images by robert frank. >> you see here a young artist of enormous talent figuring something out.